Living with Local Water, Native Edible Trees
2024 Summer Newsletter
The United Nations estimates that people need 50–100 liters of water per day to meet basic needs like drinking, cooking, and hygiene. For us in the U.S., that translates to 13-26 gallons a day. But we use so much more water than that! In Tucson, a water conscious city, our gallons used per person per day hovers around 80.
Could we cut our water use in half and get to 40? Or even less?
We at WMG think so. And the primary way to do that is to reduce or eliminate using municipal water and groundwater to irrigate our landscapes and gardens, saving 30-40 gallons per day of imported water and pumped groundwater. If Tucsonans could reduce to 40 gallons of water use per day, we could even forgo importing Colorado River water, an expensive, dwindling, and energy intensive water supply.
To go hydro-local, valuing and stewarding local water resources instead of depleting distant watersheds, we can expand our cultivation of native edible plants without taxing our water supplies.
The Sonoran Desert has an incredible diversity of edible plants with food production all year long. And our native edible trees also provide great shade to cool our homes, yards, and streets.
Just imagine growing food without watering extra, just using what falls from the sky. We recommend planting and harvesting Velvet Mesquite, Desert Ironwood, and Blue Palo Verde. Foothills Palo Verde and Mexican Palo Verde also have edible pods, however, they don’t provide great shade.
Desert Ironwood and Palo Verde beans are ready to harvest late Spring, and can be eaten like edamame. Once the beans are dry, they can be harvested and stored for cooking later.
Velvet Mesquite pods are the most common food source, ground into mesquite flour. While the beans are abundant, the opportunities to mill the beans are few, with just a few organizations in Southern Arizona that offer milling events. Operating a mesquite hammer mill is a growing market needing some passionate entrepreneurs!
Keep an eye out for our Native Edible Tree workshops at the Living Lab and in various neighborhoods. T his fall we’ll be teaching rain garden workshops and sending participants home with Native Edible Tree starter kits. Join these efforts, and you too can drastically reduce your water use, while growing more shade and tasty native foods.